PAXTON’S 
HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 
OCTOBER, 1836. 
HORTICULTURE. 
ON THE EXPEDIENCY AND EFFECTS OF GRAFTING. 
F 
Grafting is a very ancient custom, as we read of it in very early 
writings. It is more than probable that it was first practised in the 
cultivation of fruit-trees, to perpetuate a favourite kind which could 
not be propagated with certainty by sowing the seed. All the wild 
originals of our garden and orchard fruits have been, by accident or 
continued culture, changed from comparative worthlessness to valuable 
products, in size as well as in quality. In the accomplishment of these 
results, the art of grafting has been mainly instrumental; for by trans¬ 
ferring a shoot of an improved variety to the young stem of a kindred 
seedling, the true kind was thereby obtained, and in any desired number. 
The advantages of grafting are manifest, and its effects upon the 
constitutional habit of both graft and stock are various, and form a 
valuable portion of the cultivator’s knowledge. It is a subject well 
worth inquiring into, as it may lead to a right understanding of the 
operation itself, as well as to the attainment of those advantages which 
may be derived from a proper choice of the graft and stock. 
We may first premise, that experience has taught us that a perfect 
union by grafting can only take place between congenial natures. Two 
individuals of the same genus of plants, and in some instances two 
individuals of the same natural order, which the improved science of 
botany hath associated, will unite by grafting, and become one tree. 
We may next premise that almost all plants, and certainly all fruit- 
trees, have to pass through a season or stage of adolescence, during which 
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